Let Them Be Little

"Let Them Be Little"

[Originally written and sung by Billy Dean]

I can remember when you fit in the palm of my hand

Felt so good in it, no bigger than a minute

How it amazes me, you're changing with every blink

Faster than a flower blooms they grow up all too soon

So let them be little 'cause they're only that way for a while

Give them hope, give them praise, give them love every day

Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle

Oh just let them be little

I've never felt so much in one little tender touch

I live for those kisses, prayers and your wishes

Now that you're teaching me things only a child can see

Every night while we're on our knees all I ask is please

Let them be little 'cause they're only that way for a while

Give them hope, give them praise, give them love every day

Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle

Oh just let them be little

So innocent, a precious soul, you turn around

It's time to let them go

So let them be little 'cause they're only that way for a while

Give them hope, give them praise, give them love every day

Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle

Oh just let them be little

Let them be little 

Wordless Wednesday

 

   

  

 

Getting Ready to Go

When we get ready to go to Miss Kelli's house for the day, we have to put on our coats. The girls don't mind them and respond appropriately when you ask them to "push your hand through, push it through" to get it through the sleeve.

Kayla Madelyn, carrying daddy's house shoe

This look just seems to say, "Whachoo talkin' about, Willis" to me.

We've tried mittens -- but they wont wear them.  We've tried them with strings down their sleeves, even clipping them to their sleeves.  They pull them off as pretty quickly.  Except when they want to play with them in the house, like Megan demonstrates.

Megan Rae

She was pretty happy about her mitten that day!  But not much longer than it took to take the picture.

Overall they're very cooperative when it comes to getting ready to go to daycare -- which I think is a good sign.

Climbing on the Furniture

Kayla, Megan & Loki

The girls like to climb.  They figured out that if they take the cushions off the chair or off the couch, that it makes it the right height for them to climb up easily.  We don't allow it, but I had to get pictures.  Kayla was just sitting there so perfectly -- like she belonged there!

Kayla, Megan & Loki

Kayla, Megan & Loki

They also have taken an interest in Loki -- particularly his toes.  Kayla usually, although this picture caught Megan doing it -- will walk up to Loki when he's laying still, look at his toes, and gently reach out and touch his foot.  I wish I could read their minds -- I wonder if they think he needs his nails done, or if they want nails like him?

Mommy's Kitchen Helpers

Speaking of losing control -- the girls found a way to entertain themselves while I was making dinner.  Normally we have them confined to the living room, but we've let them come out with us to the kitchen more often lately.

This time, they got into the pots and pan cabinet, and I let them.  It was loud, but it was cute.

They worked together to pull out the pans and lids, put some back in, take them back out and move them around the floor.  Then Kayla tried to get the stack of nested glass baking dishes out, and I thought it was time to stop them.  She was pretty determined though!

And yes, that is a pink pan!

You Make Bath Time Lots of Fun!

I remember that song Ernie sang about his rubber ducky.  It's not the rubber ducky that makes bath-time fun around here -- it's the girls themselves.  

 

 Who's who? scroll down to next photo for the answer!
(Click to enlarge - look out for that splashing water!)

With Daddy out of commission as far as bath time goes, Mommy has had to improvise.  Grandma Ruth comes over most bath nights to take daddy's place in the assembly line.  That's the usual routine -- bathe one, get her dried and dressed for bed while bathing the other.  Get the second ready for bed while getting bed-time sippy cups ready, then sit with sippies and watch some Wiggles or Yo Gabba Gabba - then off to bed. We bathe them in the kitchen sink still -- generally one at a time.  But this particular night, Mommy improvised.  Both girls at once!

The girls loved it.  They like to splash -- that got a bit messy.  But luckily, despite their fascination with the sprayer, they haven't figured out how to work it.....yet. 

 Megan & Kayla

But boy, did they have fun!  It's not the first time we've bathed them together -- but it's definitely the exception, not the rule.  And the girls always have fun when we do it!  When one splashes -- the other splashes!  And that can make for quite the mess!

 Megan & Kayla
Click on this to make bigger -- check out all those teeth!!

After we played and bathed, i dried them off and let them run nekkid to their bedroom to get ready for bed.  Daddy was laying down -- the girls got sidetracked and ran to see him -- what a surprise that was!  He probably thought I'd really lost control at that point.  But that's okay, we all know who rules the house around here -- it's the babies!  With those smiles, how could they not?

Welcome 2010 -- Off With a Challenging Start

Near the end of 2009, Mike started having problems that were indicative of a ruptured disc.  Not wanting to go down that road again, he was able to put off surgery with medication.  Our hope was to make it until spring or summer, when the girls could walk in and out of daycare, when they would actually listen when we'd say 'no', and when Mike's mom wasn't in school so we could ask her to help us out with the girls some while we had the surgery and while Mike recovered.  The best laid plans....

So the year started out quite hectic for me at work.  First week of January was some long hours at work closing out the year.  Second week of January we revamped the inventory system at work.  We're still dealing with the that effort and working through things.

Megan had another ear infection, and both girls got a mouthful of teeth.  I mean a mouthful!  They had just 4 teeth each for the longest time.  Then all of a sudden, they had teeth coming in all over! Molars included.  I took the girls to the doctor to get the diagnosis and meds for the ear infection, so I was at home one afternoon --and Mike came home early from work.  In pain.  And it went downhill from there.  An MRI, pain meds, more pain meds, and ER visit, and finally an official diagnosis of 2 ruptured discs and a surgery date scheduled.  And a snow storm.  And a snow blower that wouldn't start and a huge drift in the driveway. And a doctor's appointment for the girls to get their H1N1 booster shots.  And January month end at work needing my attention.  So when ever anyone asked me what I needed, I kept saying "sanity".

My mom, Grandma, was able to come help out.  A. Lot.  Aunt Karen came over to help me out as well.
Granny was kind enough to come stay for the whole weekend.  Grandpa came for part of the weekend, too! Things are looking up!

So instead of wallowing in the down sides, let's focus on the positive!
I've gotten a lot of mommy time with the girls.  Aunt Karen got Aunt time with the girls. Grandma is getting more Grandma time.  Granny and Grandpa are getting more Granny time and Grandpa time.  And Mike is getting some rest.

Speaking of the girls -- the ear infections are gone, and while the teething continues...overall, they're doing great!  And we are too -- things are going okay.

Before the girls were born, Granny and Grandpa gave us two books that had holes in the middle for you to put your face.  They're too cute and the girls love them!  They were quite popular when Granny was staying with us.

Granny and Megan

Granny and Megan

Granny and Megan

 

Granny and Megan

Megan poked Granny through the book.

Then she had a better idea -- and she gave Granny a kiss!

Granny and Megan

I ended up with lots of pictures of Megan and the book, and none of Kayla.  Well, there's this one -- but Kayla is standing with a funny expression and Megan's playing with the book.

Kayla, Granny and Megan

 It's rather indicative of reality, though.  Megan is more interested in books than Kayla.  But as with everything, I'm sure it will change.

You Can Pick Your Friends---And You Can Pick Your Nose--

Last night Megan was sitting in the recliner with me.  We were both leaning back, and she reached up and "beeped" her nose.

Then she reached up to beep my nose.
Or so I thought.
Quick as a wink, she stick her finger up my nose, scratched inside my nose and stuck her finger in her mouth!

She smiled up at me, so proud of herself!

They say you can't pick your friend's nose, but I guess you can pick your mommy's nose --- if you're quick enough!

January Adventures

But first, a realization that we didn't post any pictures from the McMannis Christmas:

All of the McMannis grandkids, plus one slightly clueless dad.

We celebrated out at Dave and Tonya's. Girls got several presents; some Yo Gabba Gabba block sets, Dora sippies, couple of books, some Disney Princess stools, and I'm sure several other things I'm forgetting. Sorry McMannis side, I forgot to do this when it was still fresh in my mind.

So yeah, January. It's actually been pretty much business as usual for the most part. The big excitement was Kayla coming down with a mild virus of some kind:

Doctor said it was comparable to "Fifth's Disease"; a minor virus that looks bad, but isn't contagious (at least not when you notice it), and runs it's course in a few days. Kayla was somewhat fussy for a couple days, running fevers, waking up in the night, and before bed we kind of noticed what we thought was a little rash. The next morning she woke up looking like that. She didn't itch or anything like that, was relatively happy throughout. Megan never did get a spot.

Girls are starting to get better with words lately. "Baby" seems to be a favorite when they have their dolls (which they like to feed with bottles as well, though rather forcefully), "Block" and "Bead" are semi-recognizable when playing with toys, "Ducks" are usually pointed out (especially by Megan). Many others that aren't quite there yet, but are getting close. We continue to struggle with "No no", however; girls like to lift the cushions on the couch and climb up on it. Kayla I think is starting to get it; Megan is usually the instigator, though, and is slower to give up on the game.

Last night I went over to Ruth's to work on her computer for a while, and she came over to help Jenn with the girls. Given a little freedom after supper, girls all of the sudden decided that Grandma Ruth needed all of the plastic grocery bags we keep stored in the kitchen.

It was quite serious work from what I hear. Ruth would try to put some of the bags down/away, and the girls would fetch them immediately and hand them back to her. The worked for a good 15-20 minutes on this it sounded like, wearing their "serious" faces the whole time.

Suddenly I don't feel so bad that the whole "No no" couch thing has been such a problem.

Favorite Pics

Jenn's done a fantastic job keeping the blog updated with Christmas pics/info lately, as well as her "Year in Review", so I thought I would mix it up a little. On my laptop and computer at work, I've setup my screen saver/desktop pics to randomly display pics of the girls that I've posted to the blog over the past ~15 months, and I've come to realize that I definitely have some favorite pics. Sometimes for the pic itself, and sometimes for the memories it brings when I see it. A retrospect and brief commentary of some of my favorites.

Probably my favorite picture so far. Girls one day discovered that they could reach the storage area of the TV stand, and had great fun pulling everything out they could get their hands on. I lose Kayla's mischievous smile especially, and Megan with a more "Oops I got caught" look. Almost perfectly captures their personalities.

For a while we had the dining room open to the girls (something we'll have to do again shortly I'm sure), and they were obsessed with the deck door curtains. We had a terrible time keeping them out of them, which lead to the more enclosed living room setup we have now. Girls love their freedom though, as is clearly shown here.

When I posted this around Easter, I got in trouble with Jenn for picking this one, with sour looks, when there were better, happier baby pics. But I love this one; the look just says "Mommy/Daddy, what in the heck are you doing to us?"

Jenn took this one, putting on the glasses for fun. I ended up making a post around this pick, spoofing on the opening paragraph from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Megan's sort of "Blarg" mouth expression is especially great.

 A favorite for obvious reasons. Up until the first bath they had cried, but not to excess, but the bath really set them off.

When we were leaving the hospital, Jenn and I suddenly realized we really had no idea how to put babies in car seats. There was Jenn, 5 days removed from a c-section, holding one girl by our bags at the Wesley Hillside entrance, while I took the other girl to the parking garage, and somehow managed to get her into the car seat (while another car waited for my space), drive the car back to the entrance, in the rain mind you, and get Jenn and the other girl into the car. Not our finest parental moment. Seeing them so small in those carseats is great.

Kayla fascinated by a Bumbo seat toy. I believe one of the first times we had them in these seats; I think the blanket there is to help prop her up in it. We used these for first feedings for quite a while, until eventually the girls started bouncing around in them and dang near took a spill off the kitchen table one day.

Jenn while she was home with the girls tried to take pictures every so often, and Loki always waned in on the action. Good size comparison here is why I really like this one, plus demonstration of how good Loki has been with the girls since Day 1.

Taking pictures of babies is always a dicey proposition; with twins, doubly so. This was an attempt to get "going home" pictures at the hospital I believe, and they were having none of it. We'd have to put the pacifiers in, let them suck for a bit, then quick take them out and snap pictures.

Mostly I just like the smiles in this pic. Girls were just becoming mobile at this point, I don't recall if they could roll over on their own at this point, but they definitely could "crawl" around somewhat.

I spent pretty much the entire month of December '08 staying at home with the girls, between me taking some time, running into the holidays. I took some pictures of both Kayla and Megan, and managed to get "first smile" pics for both of the, Megan shown here. Right around 3 months here.

Girls darn near lived in swings for the better part of the first 4-5 months of their lives, as it was a great way to induce naps and calm them down. Here we see Megan demonstrating that babies actually have no spine until the age of 6 months, a little known medical fact.

One of the first pictures taken, obviously. Babies wrapped up in the hospital, yet both awake and looking around. Note the "A" label on Kayla's hat, a practice the nurses in the nursery started and we kept for quite a while even after bringing them home. This looks like a Daddy wrap job as well; you can tell as the blankets aren't wrapped so much as they're just wadded up. I was recently shamed when James wrapped his new daughter Emma with perfect form, when we were visiting them in the hospital last night. Show off.